It’s team camaraderie - Simbine of relay success

It was a golden night for South African athletics as they won three medals, including two golds, at the World Relay Championships in Guangzhou, China on Sunday. The men’s quartet claimed gold in both the 4x100m and 4x400m, while the women picked up bronze in the 4x400m.

Bayanda Walaza, Sinesipho Dambile, Bradley Nkoana and Akani Simbine had set the stage when Simbine chased down American Brandon Hicklin to hit the line in 37.61sec, the fastest time in the world this year and 0.05sec ahead of the US athlete.

Zeney van der Walt then anchored the women’s 4x400m team to bronze before Gardeo Isaacs, Udeme Okon, Leendert Koekemoer and Zakithi Nene combined to give South African another gold medal, in 2:57.50 which is also the quickest time in the world this year.

All these South African teams will be back in action at the World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo this year, where they will be looking to again dominate on the global stage.

South African athletics enjoyed its most profitable return in relay history when they topped the medals table at the event. They closed with two gold medals and a bronze and were the only country to have won more than one gold medal.

“Once I got the baton and I saw that USA was in front of us, I just said to myself, ‘I need to catch the guy in front’,” Simbine, the poster of South African sprinting, said. “I knew I could do it and I just chased him. I feed from chasing, I feed from being able to chase. So it’s really great to be able to be in that position and get through it and get to the line first.”

The garlanded three-time Olympic 100m finalist paid tribute to his teammates, suggesting that team work makes the dream work. “First and foremost, it’s team camaraderie,” said Simbine when asked about the art of relay running. “If a team actually get along, then they are able to make it work.

“The big thing with the placing of the guys – everybody wants to be the anchor, because they feel like the anchor gets all the limelight,” he adds, explaining what makes a successful relay team. “But every position works with different strengths and every athlete has different strengths. As a coach, when you’re putting together a team, it’s putting together the guys according to their strengths and not according to egos.

“You can have the fastest guys in the world at that time running but if you don’t get the stick around and you don’t have the guys in their best positions running, then it’s not going to work out.”